Posada, who was limited to just 51 games last season before requiring July shoulder surgery, suffered a Grade 2 strain of his right hamstring while sliding into second base during the sixth inning of Monday's rain-soaked 6-4 loss to Boston.

As soon as Jose Molina flied out to end that inning, Posada knew another trip to the 15-day disabled list was in his immediate future.

"I couldn't run. With two outs, when Jose hit the fly ball to left field, I couldn't even get to third base," Posada said before last night's 7-3 loss to the Red Sox. "So I knew something was wrong."

Posada, who didn't play after July 19 last season, slowly was rebuilding arm strength in his surgically repaired throwing shoulder after months of rehabilitation. But that didn't prevent him from a strong start offensively - posting a .312 batting average, a .986 on base plus slugging percentage and 20 RBI in 23 games.

Joe Girardi did one very impressive thing after last night's loss to the Red Sox - he defended the indefensible.

After watching his bullpen give up three runs in the final two innings to give the Red Sox a comfortable margin of victory, the manager said he remained confident that his current crop of relievers could get the job done.

"My job is to get the best out of them," Girardi said. "To me, you have to believe in them - and I do believe in them. Have they struggled? Yes, they have. But these guys have also done the job for me since I've been here, too. We have to find a way to turn this around and get outs out of our bullpen. I don't lose faith in people."

Jonathan Albaladejo allowed two unearned runs in the eighth after Ramiro Pena opened the inning with a fielding error, but the erratic reliever still gave up a hit, a walk and hit a batter in his two-thirds of an inning.

Rookie Mark Melancon walked three batters without recording an out, leaving a mess for Dave Robertson, who held the Sox to one run while pitching out of the jam. Jose Veras (7.62 ERA) and Edwar Ramirez (5.06) combined to throw a scoreless inning, but it's been an adventure for the Yankees every time either of them take the mound.

The Yankees have veteran Brett Tomko closing at Triple A with a 0.69 ERA, leaving them an option if they decide to make a move.

"There are times when you have to make changes, and if we feel there's a change that will help us, we're not afraid to do that," Girardi said. "At this minute, I don't know if there's a move to be made."

Chien-Ming Wang threw a 25-pitch bullpen session yesterday in Tampa, Fla., keeping him on track to throw 65 pitches in an extended spring game tomorrow.

"He's just getting his work in," organizational pitching guru Billy Connors said. "He's very improved" from when he arrived in Tampa, "and everything is good. The doctor did a great job with him and he's ready to go."

Wang has been on the disabled list since April 24 with what the team called weakness of the abductor muscles in his hips.

The Yankees' staff met with event personnel yesterday, a day after fans complained they left the ballpark during Monday night's rain delay and were denied re-entry when the game against Boston began.

Yankees public address announcer Paul Olden made just two announcements, one when the game went into a delay shortly before the scheduled 7:05 p.m. start and another at about 8:50 p.m., when he said the start had been rescheduled for approximately 9:20 p.m.

Some fans who had left the ballpark reported that they were denied re-entry and others said they were allowed back in.